Graduate students plan morning protest

Graduate students looking to fight a significant increase in health care costs will take their views to the Sample Gates this morning, as part of a rally the Graduate Employee Organization organized. \nThe demonstration, to be held at 10 a.m., is part of an effort to express dissatisfaction at a proposed 58 percent increase in health care costs for student academic appointees, said Adrianne Wadewitz, a graduate student in the English department, and co-coordinator of the GEO's steering committee. Student academic appointees include graduate associate instructors, research assistants and graders.\n"We want the administration to know how upset the graduate students are and we want to make the issue more public to the campus," she said. \nThe rally coincides with a meeting of the Student Academic Appointee Health Benefits Committee, which will be deciding in late April what health care plan to recommend to University administrators, and ultimately the board of trustees, for final approval.\nThe University has already offered to pay nearly 69 percent of the increases, leaving the graduate appointees to pay $181.20, said Neil Theobald, vice provost of budget and administration. \nWadewitz said the rally is one way to advocate for more coverage from the school. \n"The budget has not been approved," Wadewitz said. "It has not been voted on by the trustees, which means that the University could still, theoretically, fund the entire 58 percent increase of the premiums, and so that is what we're going to be asking them do, rather than cutting benefits."\nThis year IU subsidized the full $1,007 cost of the graduate employee health insurance. The total cost will be $1,591 under the proposed plan.\nBut Theobald said $6.5 million in state appropriations cuts in the last two years, combined with tuition increases of less than 5 percent in the last three years, have created hardships for the campus budget. Covering the increases alone will cost $1.3 million, he said, adding that such a price represents significant sacrifices on the parts of the departmental deans who fund the insurance plans. \n"We wish we had more funds, it's just a very difficult year," he said. "We'd love to be able to do more ... Graduate students are obviously a very high priority around here." \nThere are 3,505 student academic appointees in Bloomington and 637 appointees at IUPUI.\nPlans for the rally call for a small speech by Ursula McTaggert, co-coordinator of the GEO's steering committee and associate instructor in the English department. Also, flyers will be passed out to people in the area. \n"Our ultimate goal is to get the University to change its mind and to be willing to cover these cuts, and we think that's still possible (given) the budget for this year," McTaggert said. \nShe said the increases to graduate budgets, even when less than $200, are still significant.\n"It's a lot when you only make $12,000 a year," she said. "Yes, the University has to consider its budget, (but) they also need to respect that we're also struggling with money, and our budgets don't have a lot of leeway for additions like this."\nThe stipend for graduate appointees varies by department, but typically ranges from $9,000 to $12,000 a year, although the graduate assistants in the sciences can typically make more than $15,000 annually, graduate students say. \n"If we had a larger stipend, it wouldn't be such a problem for people," McTaggert said. \nThe GEO, a group separate from the Graduate and Professional Student Organization, was founded almost two years ago, and advocates unionization of graduate employees, McTaggert said. It currently has about 400 members.